


I wanna dance on the roof (you and me alone)

by sympathy_for_hordak (sparrow0)



Category: She-Ra and the Princesses of Power (2018)
Genre: Alternate Universe - College/University, Canon-Typical Awkwardness, F/M, Flirting, Hacking, Nerds in Love, Self-Indulgent, Soft Hordak (She-Ra), Trans Characters
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2020-04-27
Updated: 2020-04-27
Packaged: 2021-03-02 01:22:43
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: No Archive Warnings Apply
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,059
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/23876875
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/sparrow0/pseuds/sympathy_for_hordak
Summary: Hordak and Entrapta are grad students.He's resigned to not belonging here, either, as he hasn't anywhere else.She's eager to share roof access, and trying not to come on too strong.
Relationships: Entrapta/Hordak (She-Ra)
Comments: 22
Kudos: 50





	I wanna dance on the roof (you and me alone)

"Hi!" someone said brightly, swinging onto the table next to Hordak's laptop. 

Hordak hoped she hadn't noticed his minute flinch, his momentary disorientation. 

"Hello," he said, trying to place this violet-haired acquaintance. He'd seen her before, he was sure of it, somewhere. 

"Are you busy?" she asked. 

"No," he said. "Do you need something?" 

"Maybe. Are you sober?" she asked, looking straight ahead at the wall. 

Hordak folded his laptop shut. "Am I what?" 

"Sober. You know, like, do you have enough gross motor coordination right this moment to safely operate heavy machinery?" she elaborated. 

"I am, yes. Why do you ask?" he said. 

"I wasn't gonna invite you if you'd just taken evening meds or something and couldn't go, that'd suck. Wanna go hacking?" 

"Me? Now?" Hordak asked, baffled. "Like, bridge-and-tunnel hacking? Really?" 

"Yeah. I mean, I can wait a little bit, but it's so nice out and you're right here. I probably know other people who aren't busy if you don't want to follow me out into the night, or you want a bigger group."

Hordak blinked, feeling as though the entirety of this conversation was beyond his understanding. "Are you implying I might want, what? A chaperone, to protect your reputation?" 

She laughed. "No, no, my reputation is awesome. It's cool if you don't wanna make trouble with only the one co-conspirator, though." 

"No, that's, uh. That's acceptable. I'll put this away and meet you back here in a few minutes. Do I need to bring anything in particular?" he asked, standing and packing up his computer and papers. 

The woman looked him up and down, appraising. "Wear stuff you're comfortable climbing in. Also, like, it's cool if you change your mind, let me give you my info so you don't have to come back here to cancel." 

He took the sticky note she was offering. "When did you write this?" he asked. 

She looked down. Had she flushed a little, or was he imagining things? "Um. A while ago? Sorry. That might be weird, I - um - I'll let you put your stuff away."

Hordak nodded, unsure how to respond, grabbed his bag, and walked off. 

~

As he went back to his dorm room, he reread the note. 

_ Entrapta Dryl, text/signal 929-555-0124, email/zulip entrapta@, it's ok to cancel <3 _

Hordak had remembered her as soon as he read her name - Entrapta's office was a few doors down from his, they were in the same year and department, she was involved in something involving distributed systems. Was he meant to understand that "<3" as an indicator of romantic interest? That couldn't possibly be correct. And yet...

Entrapta was a tiny woman, effortlessly charming, and seemed to have a thousand friends here already. Hordak towered over her, was at best tolerably awkward, and had worked a mortifying number of hours out in the lounge for the sense of companionship. Maybe she'd seen the tiny rainbow sticker on his laptop, more than half-covered by less sensitive imagery? That was probably it - she saw him as a fellow LGBT person who needed to get out more, which was accurate. 

A worse possibility came to mind. She couldn't think of him as - well - a kind of sister, could she? He looked down at the navy sundress he'd worn today. It was plausible, wasn't it, that somebody with a voice and height like his going about in eyeliner was going to swap to the more obvious pronouns sooner or later. He sighed. 

Of course that's what this was about. Trying to invite him to a sisterhood of sparkly pastels he didn't want and hormones he'd voluntarily eliminated his body's ability to produce. 

Still, Hordak wasn't intimidated by her. He wouldn't be affected by Entrapta's inevitable, disappointed rejection. He wasn't going to back out; he simply wouldn't get his hopes up. 

He kicked off his heels and threw on a pair of leggings and sneakers. 

  
  


"Oh hi!" she exclaimed, beaming. "I'm so glad you're back! Thanks for joining me!" 

"You're welcome," he said. 

"Have you been before?" she asked. 

He shook his head. "I've read about it; I'm informed."

"Cool! Then, as is tradition, if anybody asks, I'm Jack Florey. You can be, uh, Acid Burn." 

"What, no, I'm not!" he protested. "I mean she's..." 

"Super hot?" Entrapta interrupted, smiling up at him. "Yeah, and I mean. I've got  _ eyes _ ." 

"I was going to say 'a woman,' because I tried that and gave it up, but that's even more absurd," Hordak replied coldly. "You're just trying to fuck with me." 

"You've got an extra word in there," Entrapta blurted, then stopped, looking horrified. "I mean. No, sorry, that's disrespectful. I'm. I really would like to be your friend, whether or not you're cool with this sort of, um, passing."

"Passing? I. What?" Hordak asked.  _ She can't have very nearly announced outright that she wants to fuck me, that's absurd,  _ he thought.

Entrapta waved her hands. "I meant like, hitting on. Making passes. Flirting. Sorry, that wasn't idiomatic." 

"But you were sincere," Hordak said. "About - the extra word." 

"Yeah but I can stop if you want, I can't tell if you're uncomfortable because you're not interested or unfamiliar or what and I'm probably totally overthinking this, I'm sorry, I'll back off." 

"That isn't necessary. I am unclear on your reasoning, but I am...not opposed," he said. 

She raised her eyebrows. "Um. Wait. When you said you tried womanhood and gave it up, you - you don't have to elaborate, if."

"I didn't detransition. I'm transmasc," he said shortly. 

"Cool! Unexpected, I admit, but cool. Do you wanna go up or down?" 

Hordak made a confused sort of noise. 

"Hacking, I mean: roofs or basements first? I'm inclined to leave basements for a colder, rainier day, but it's up to you." 

"Up, then," Hordak answered. 

~

She spun to face him, beneath the purple-bruise city sky, speaking up to be heard over the rumbling air handlers. "Ohhhh I bet the thing works on guys, too. Hordak." 

"What thing?" 

"Oh, you know - sorry, you don't know, do you? The thing where you say somebody's chosen name really warmly and they just melt for you, it's better than pick-up lines." She leaned in, slowly, looked up at him, and did it again. "Hordak." 

He bit his lip, looking back. "Y-yes, it works on guys. Um. Entrapta." 

**Author's Note:**

> Title is from Carly Rae Jepsens's ["Cut to the Feeling."](https://genius.com/Carly-rae-jepsen-cut-to-the-feeling-lyrics)
> 
> 929 is one of the area codes for the New York City metropolitan area, 555 is an invalid exchange most frequently used for fictional phone numbers, and 0124 is Entrapta's birthday. 
> 
> "Jack Florey" is a real [traditional pseudonym](http://museum.mit.edu/nom150/entries/1288), insofar as lying to cops for about half a century can be called a "tradition." 
> 
> "Acid Burn" is the hacker pseudonym of Angelina Jolie's beautiful love interest character from the cult classic movie _[Hackers](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hackers_\(film\))_ , from which the phrase "Hack The Planet" originated.
> 
> I can't remember who told me about the names-as-flirting trick; it's been done to me and by me too many times.


End file.
